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Books > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Social & political philosophy
How can we be sure the oppressed do not become oppressors in their
turn? How can we create a feminism that doesn't turn into yet
another tool for oppression? It has become commonplace to argue
that, in order to fight the subjugation of women, we have to unpack
the ways different forms of oppression intersect with one another:
class, race, gender, sexuality, disability, and ecology, to name
only a few. By arguing that there is no single factor, or arche,
explaining the oppression of women, Chiara Bottici proposes a
radical anarchafeminist philosophy inspired by two major claims:
that there is something specific to the oppression of women, and
that, in order to fight that, we need to untangle all other forms
of oppression and the anthropocentrism they inhabit. Anarchism
needs feminism to address the continued subordination of all
femina, but feminism needs anarchism if it does not want to become
the privilege of a few. Anarchafeminism calls for a decolonial and
deimperial position and for a renewed awareness of the somatic
communism connecting all different life forms on the planet. In
this new revolutionary vision, feminism does not mean the
liberation of the lucky few, but liberation for all living
creatures from both capitalist exploitation and an androcentric
politics of domination. Either all or none of us will be free.
This interdisciplinary volume revisits Adorno's lesser-known work,
Minima Moralia, and makes the case for its application to the most
urgent concerns of the 21st century. Contributing authors situate
Adorno at the heart of contemporary debates on the ecological
crisis, the changing nature of work, the idea of utopia, and the
rise of fascism. Exploring the role of critical pedagogy in shaping
responses to fascistic regimes, alongside discussions of extractive
economies and the need for leisure under increasingly precarious
working conditions, this volume makes new connections between
Minima Moralia and critical theory today. Another line of focus is
the aphoristic style of Minima Moralia and its connection to
Adorno's wider commitment to small and minor literary forms, which
enable capitalist critique to be both subversive and poetic. This
critique is further located in Adorno's discussion of a utopia that
is reliant on complete rejection of the totalising system of
capitalism. The distinctive feature of such a utopia for Adorno is
dependent upon individual suffering and subsequent survival, an
argument this book connects to the mutually constitutive
relationship between ecological destruction and right-wing
authoritarianism. These timely readings of Adorno's Minima Moralia
teach us to adapt through our survival, and to pursue a utopia
based on his central ideas. In the process, opening up theoretical
spaces and collapsing the physical borders between us in the spirit
of Adorno's lifelong project.
Connecting several strands of Aristotle's thought, Zoli Filotas
sheds light on one of the axioms of Aristotle's ethics and
political philosophy - that every community has a ruler - and
demonstrates its relevance to his ideas on personal relationships.
Aristotle and the Ethics of Difference, Friendship, and Equality
reveals a pluralistic theory of rule in Aristotle's thought,
tracing it through his corpus and situating it in a discussion
among such figures as Gorgias, Xenophon, and Plato. Considering the
similarities and differences among various forms of rule, Filotas
shows that for Aristotle even virtuous friends must exercise a
version of rule akin to that of slaveholders. He also explores why
Aristotle distinguishes the hierarchical rule over women from both
the mastery of slaves and the political rule exercised by free and
equal citizens. In doing so, he argues that natural and social
differences among human beings play a complex, and troubling, role
in Aristotle's reasoning. Illuminating and thought-provoking, this
book reveals Aristotle's ambivalence about political relations and
the equal treatment they involve and offers an engaging inquiry
into how he understood the common structures of human
relationships.
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The Art of War
(Hardcover)
Niccolo Machiavelli; Translated by Henry Neville
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R483
Discovery Miles 4 830
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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"I'd been an activist for years. I'd marched, protested, blocked
the road, been arrested. I'd exposed how banks and tax havens fuel
corruption, poverty and environmental destruction. I'd launched a
campaign that rewrote the laws on secret company ownership in
dozens of countries. My research had contributed to the cluster
munitions ban and a treaty to control the arms trade. But despite
these efforts, my discomfort about activism was growing. Was I part
of the problem too?" The Entangled Activist is the story of how
activism is entangled in the problems it seeks to solve, told by a
hard-hitting campaigner who through personal experience -- as well
as extensively researched psycho-social enquiry -- comes to look at
activism very differently. After years of thinking that her task
was to 'get the bastards,' campaigner, writer and reporter Anthea
Lawson came to see that activism often emerges from the same
troubles it is trying to fix, and that its demons, including
hypocrisy, saviourism, burnout and treating other people badly, can
be a gateway to understanding the depth of what really needs to
change. Drawing on her own experience, critical analysis and
interviews with leading activists, Lawson looks under the surface
of our attempts to change the world to offer a timely and
eye-opening vision for transformative work. By considering how
unexamined shadows and assumptions get in the way of
well-intentioned activist goals, and how those at the forefront of
sociopolitical change are often caught up in the very systems and
ideologies they seek to change, Lawson dismantles hierarchies that
have shaped the field for too long. The Entangled Activist is a
profound call to acknowledge our entanglement with the world. To
those who are worried about the state of things but are skeptical
of 'activism', it offers possibilities for action that go beyond
righteousness and reactivity. And to activists who so want to help,
it mindfully unearths a different starting place, one where
transforming ourselves is unwaveringly part of transforming the
world.
The figure of the mistress is undoubtedly controversial. She
provokes intense reactions, ranging from fear, to disgust and
revulsion, to excitement and titillation, to sadness and perhaps to
some, love. The mistress is conventionally depicted as a threat to
moral living and someone whose sexuality is considered defective
and toxic. Of course, she is a woman that you would not have as
your friend, and certainly not your wife, since her ethical sense,
if she even has one, is dubious at best. This book subverts these
traditional judgements and offers an unflinching look at the lived
experience of the mistress. Here she is recast as a potentially
loving, free, intimate 'other' woman. Drawing upon feminist
philosophy, contemporary sexual ethics and the current cultural
moment of #MeToo, Mistress Ethics moves beyond a narrative of
infidelity, conventional judgment, the safeguarding of monogamy and
conventional heterosex that permeates our society. It asks what
happens when we let go of our insecurities, judgments and
moralistic relationship philosophies and opt, instead, for an
ethics of kindness. This kindness - underpinned by engaging with
those deemed 'other' and learning from mistresses, both straight
and queer - will teach us new ways of thinking about ethics and
sex, and reveal how we have better sex, and how we can be better to
each other.
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